


in the raw wind of the new world

by AdelineVW7



Series: darling, home is where I am with you [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Blank Period, F/M, Getting Together, Requited Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27415381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdelineVW7/pseuds/AdelineVW7
Summary: She dances around him, as if afraid that one day he would leave, or tell her to go back to Konoha by herself. But the simple truth is that he could never. Not again. Not when the affection within his breast has now become a pulsing, solid warmth—a tender creature with a will of its own. And he could never betray this softness, not again.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Series: darling, home is where I am with you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950553
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	in the raw wind of the new world

Sakura could be incredibly oblivious sometimes, he has learned.

There is a confession at the tip of his tongue, but he could not unloose it. Because she whom he loves is flighty still, unsure of that which has bloomed between them. She dances around him, as if afraid that one day he would leave, or tell her to go back to Konoha by herself. But the simple truth is that he could _never_. Not again. Not when the affection within his breast has now become a pulsing, solid warmth—a tender creature with a will of its own. And he could never betray this softness, not again.

But he supposes he is the one to blame for her uncertainty. Perhaps, with his comings and goings, and the long reticence of his heart, he has made her forget the shapes and semblances of his affection. 

When he smiles at her, it is just that; when he brushes his fingertips against her skin in a stolen caress, she reads no meaning in it. She takes his devotion as courtesy—as small, happy accidents.

Perhaps it has to do with hope. He thinks maybe she has come to realize that she has to guard her heart against it, and all its attendant disappointments. And he understands, only too well. He has been there himself.

But it cannot—will not—go on like this. For Sakura, for the girl who taught him what it is like to love again, he will go to the ends of the earth to amend his mistakes. He will see her smile once more, as in the days of their childhood, unfettered by her fears of him forsaking her again.

Dusk; they are sitting side by side on the shore, the waves lapping up their bare feet. He watches from the corner of his eye as her hand curls and uncurls in the sand. His fingers itch to fit themselves between hers—to meet her in the middle and finally claim that which she had always offered him freely. 

Until he pushed her to retreat and close herself off. It is his turn now, to plead admittance. He turns to her, watching as the setting sun veils her with a golden glow. _How could I have resisted her affection for so long,_ he wonders. _How could I have been so blind?_

“Sakura,” he calls. She glances at him, eyes soft. She waits for him to speak. 

“Do you know?” He urges surety into his voice, and draws closer. 

“Know what, Sasuke-kun?”

“Do you know what I feel for you?”

Her lips part in surprise, and she looks as if he had stolen the earth from underneath her. This fills him with the tenderest remorse. His love should not have been so groundbreaking—it has been there all along. 

Sakura’s eyes begin filling with tears, and he knows now that she understood. But he will not leave this confession unfinished. She deserves more—she deserves everything that he has to give. So he cups her face with his lone hand, his thumb gently swiping at her tears. And he tells her, “Marry me.”

Her voice trembles under the strain of budding hope. “This is what you want, Sasuke-kun?”

“More than anything,” he tells her. And with his gaze he wills her to understand: _This is what I have always wanted._

She smiles through her tears. “Then I will. Oh, my heart's dearest!” She thrusts herself into his waiting embrace. “I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> *the title is a line borrowed from Louise Glück's poem "Snowdrops."


End file.
